The England match may prove painful for Wales on Saturday but, whatever happens, Clive Woodward's destiny is set in stone: England will NOT win the Grand Slam in 2002

... and they will NOT win the Rugby World Cup in 2003.

Yes, England have produced the scintillating form of the past two seasons in this year's Six Nations. Scotland were tossed aside and Ireland were crushed at Twickenham. But France came along just in time to remind us all of those nagging doubts in their ability.

Woodward and his players constantly maintain that England are simply building towards the World Cup in Australia (and maybe New Zealand, but that's another story).

But this is just papering over the cracks, of course, and the fact remains that in the northern hemisphere Grand Slam's are the currency of great sides.

Despite the management and players' attempts to convince us otherwise, England have a significant mental flaw. When the pressure's applied they choke.

A great side, like any champion, has the physical and mental capacity to find a winning solution, whatever hand they are dealt. Great sides leave the excuses to the losers ... but, sadly for Woodward, the brilliance we have seen flashed of this season is matched by the brilliance of their excuses.

The 1999 Grand Slam defeat against Wales, according to Neil Back, was a "tactical error" and "if it were a boxing match they would have stopped the fight".

Strange, I always thought that the team with the most points won. Even Sir Alex Ferguson, master of "reason in the face of defeat", hasn't come up with that one yet.

A year later at Murrayfield, another beauty: England said they "didn't train for the conditions".

Do they not play in the wet? Does the sun always shine at Twickers? The coaching staff presumably thought they were playing indoors.

England's (broken) record continues. At Lansdowne road in 2001, they were "caught cold". Hadn't they heard the old adage, "failure to prepare, prepare to fail"?

And in Paris at the start of the month England lost because, well, you know, Woodward's men "don't normally make those mistakes".

Despite what Woodward believes, England are not learning from their errors. A great side doesn't make the same mistake four times in succession.

The outlook may be bleak for Wales on Saturday but Steve Hansen and his squad should take heart from these Grand Slam failures.

England are like the biggest kid in the playground: Let them get their own way and you are in for a torrid time.

But apply pressure, create some doubt and in the back of their minds and those demons of failure are lurking and ready to pounce.